PARIS: With Europe topping six million coronavirus cases, Scotland and Brussels became the latest to introduce curbs on alcohol consumption on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila), while experts detailed the hugely divergent consequences of the pandemic for the world's richest and poorest.

A two-week pub closure in central Scotland, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, was designed as a 'short, sharp action to arrest the worrying increase in infection,' First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.